This surname of English origin, is a topographical name derived from the Middle English 'stoppe' probably identical to the Old English 'stoppa' meaning 'pail' or 'bucket' used here in a transferred sense to describe a hollow or a pit. The name dates back to the late 14th Century, (see below). Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Stops, Stopps, Stopp, Stoppe, etc.. One Richard Stopp married Mergerete Shawe at Edmonton, London on November 15th 1566. James Stopes married Mary Bedell at St. Mary Magdalene Old Fish Street, London on January 12th 1579 and Sarah, daughter of Joe and Elizabeth Stopps, was christened on January 28th 1773 at Holborn, London. One Christopher Stope, aged twenty four, emigrated to Virginia, the New World, aboard the 'Safety' in August 1635. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William del Stopp, which was dated 1379, 'The Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire', during the reign of King Richard 11, 'Richard of Bordeaux', 1378 - 1400. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.